I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.
A highway crew, a bible rodeo camp, an inventor and a Nebraska city named after a jar. Here’s the day in photos.
Tom Cooper: inventor, fabricator and human manure composter. Here, aboard the bus he lives in. (Mason City, NE)
Okay, Mason City has nothing to do with canning but that’s where we ended up tonight (July 27). I rode the mules out Trent and Kelli Loos’s driveway this morning at 6a and made Mason City, 18 miles away, just after lunch.
Photos of the Day
Here are a few photos I thought you’d enjoy. A mix of central Nebraska faces and places.
Highway 2 construction crew: behind us, a train that did its best to disrupt our photo.Men at work: one of the things I’ve especially enjoyed on this trip is having the time look “under the rebar” of road construction projects. When you show up on a mule, you’d be amazed what folks want to show you!Miguel: Miguel and one other worker stopped traffic so I could cross the bridge they were repairing. They are fixing the bridge approach (the part where you drive on to the bridge).Cracker lifting his head to take in the view. Or is he just scouting out a greener patch of clover?Water: the mules and I travel with 2 – 3 quarts of water. More is just too heavy too carry. At day’s end we have to rely on whatever water source we find. I was told by a Mason City resident that the city water where I was camped had probably been sitting in the pipes a long time. So it would be a good idea to run the water a moment before consuming. I did.Tom’s bus (as in Tom from the first photo): I especially liked seeing his “bed stove”Kenny visiting with CrackerTonight’s camp (Mason City, NE)
